Anaesthesia & Perioperative Medicine

The Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine provides anaesthetic services to more than 26,000 patients undergoing surgery and other procedures at The Alfred, Caulfield and Sandringham Hospitals each year, as well as specialist pain and perioperative medicine services.

Clinical service overview

We have long enjoyed a reputation as one of the leading anaesthetic departments in the country and our experienced team of 26 full-time and more than 60 visiting specialist anaesthetists provide exceptional patient care.

With the comprehensive facilities and services within Alfred Health, we can act as a ‘one stop’ referral centre for patients undergoing surgery and other procedures, minimising the need for multiple hospital visits and streamlining transfers.

Anaesthesia services are delivered in the operating theatres, emergency department, intensive care unit and birth suite as well as procedure areas such as radiology and interventional cardiology. We provide an integrated Acute Pain Service. We are a state trauma referral hospital as well as the Victorian heart and lung transplantation centre. The Alfred Centre offers additional capacity to our specialist units for elective surgery.

As well as a comprehensive pre-anaesthetic assessment clinic, outpatient services are provided for patients referred with chronic pain conditions and suspected perioperative allergic reactions.

The 24-hour anaesthetic service at Sandringham is provided by the Alfred Health Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine.